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Be prepared for winter, test out your heating out now!

Posted by Biff Tanner on August 14th, 2013

We will soon be approaching what the gas companies call 'light up time'. This is the period when nearly everybody in the country turns on their heating systems simultaneously for the first time since the onset of the great British summer!

If you have a problem, and try and get a heating engineer to call during this inevitable busy period, you're in for a bit of a wait. Why leave it so late?

Be prepared this winter

Now is the perfect time to try out your central heating, but do it late evening or early morning when its a bit cooler. Remember to turn your room thermostat high enough to switch the heating on, and also to turn any thermostatic radiator valves up fully to test your heating's operation. Thermostatic radiator valves quite often stick in the off position, so check them out. It is also a good time to bleed any radiators that feel cold at the top, remembering to top up the pressure where necesarry.

As a preventative measure, check pipes in unheated areas, and if appropriate install some pipe lagging. If you have had loft insulation installed in the summer, check for correct lagging of pipes in the loft, as these will now become like iceboxes in the winter (due to no heat now leaving the house and warming the loft area). Even a one inch section of unlagged pipe can burst if not properly insulated.